With no tuition freeze from the governor, Kansas universities plan to increase tuition

Top university officials told Kansas lawmakers that they plan to increase student tuition, but few said by how much.

While formal tuition proposals have not been finalized and likely won't be for a few months, higher education executives are already saying students will likely pay more next year.

The comments come after Gov. Laura Kelly campaigned on a promise to support tuition freezes, but chose not to freeze tuition in a budget proposal that increases higher education funding — but not by enough to cover higher costs from inflation.

Blake Flanders, president of the Kansas Board of Regents, which sets tuition for state universities, said they have maintained lower tuition in recent years.

"We haven't been increasing tuition," Flanders said. "Much of that we could do through state support. It's going to be difficult this year. We could see perhaps a modest increase. We've had generally incredibly high inflation rates. But if we can couple a modest increase with some need-based aid, then you can help those most needy students."

The news comes from the House Higher Education Budget Committee, which held multiple days of hearings on university budget proposals. Legislators directly asked university leaders about potential tuition increases in light of an anticipated increase in state funding to help cover inflation.

The funding increase equates to a 5% adjustment, which is significantly lower than what inflation has been.

"State funding makes up 17% of my budget. I have to make up inflation on all of my budget," said University of Kansas Chancellor Douglas Girod. "So I anticipate we will be requesting a small tuition increase this year, and we're still in the process of working with the students on what that would look like."

Kansas State University President Richard Linton anticipates a tuition proposal in line with what the university planned to seek last year before Kelly blocked tuition increases.

"We're likely to try to come in as to where we were last year," Linton said. "So last year, we were looking at a need of about a 3% tuition increase, which we did not push forward upon recommendation of the governor. But I think this year we'd like to be able to push that need forward in order to be able to offer the students services that they need."

Wichita State University President Rick Muma said the proposed increased state funding would allow the school to "keep tuition increases as minimal as possible."

President JuliAnn Mazachek, of Washburn University, which is not a full Regents institution, said the increased state aid "will have the impact of helping us minimize any increases in tuition that would be required."

Fort Hays State University president Tisa Mason urged lawmakers not to freeze tuition, pointing to last year's freeze from the governor as "a cautionary tale." Fort Hays had planned for "a modest increase in tuition," adding that would have made the university "financially whole."

More:Gov. Laura Kelly's freeze on tuition could be mixed bag for Kansas' state universities

Pittsburg State University President Dan Shipp was not asked about increasing tuition.

Emporia State University has not yet had its budget hearing.

Kelly budget allows tuition increases this year

During her reelection campaign, Kelly promised to support tuition freezes.

"I'm proud of the work we've done to keep tuition at our Regents institutions flat," Kelly said in campaign materials. "In my second term, I'll continue supporting tuition freezes."

But this year, Kelly isn't mandating that universities freeze tuition, like she did last year.

"I'm not going to commit them to freeze intuition," Adam Proffitt, the governor's budget director, said last month of state universities. "We feel that this puts them in a position to have modest increases, if any, but certainly up to the institutions."

Last year, Kelly line-item vetoed a budget proviso that would have allowed universities to raise tuition. Some school administrators were already preparing proposals to increase tuition when they got the news that the governor was blocking them. The move came as the Legislature increased state aid by less than what Kelly and the higher education system asked for.

More:Laura Kelly's budget boosts special education funding, state worker pay. Here's what to know.

This year, Kelly's budget proposal called for $21.8 million to help offset inflation at the Regents universities plus Washburn. The budget allows universities to increase tuition.

"We did not have the conversation about locking them into a tuition freeze," Proffitt said. "We did have conversations about what tuition looks like and what these fundings are. That's really where that $21.8 million to mitigate the cost of inflation comes in.

"If we can offset some of those costs increases, they can have a more stable — I'm not going to commit them to a number, but trying to keep the tuition increases as low as possible. But there's no mandate to freeze tuition."

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Expect Kansas university student tuition increases at KU, K-State, WSU